Richter, Bernd Stevens. "Nature Mastered by Man: Ideology and Water in the Soviet Union." Environment and History 3, No

The White Horse Press Full citation: Richter, Bernd Stevens. "Nature Mastered by Man: Ideology and Water in the Soviet Union." Environment and History 3, no. 1 (February 1997): 69–96. http://www.environmentandsociety.org/node/2915. Rights: All rights reserved. © The White Horse Press 1997. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism or review, no part of this article may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, including photocopying or recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission from the publishers. For further information please see http://www.whpress.co.uk. Nature Mastered by Man: Ideology and Water in the Soviet Union BERND STEVENS RICHTER Olympic College 1600 Chester Avenue Bremerton, WA 98837-1699, USA SUMMARY The former Soviet Union suffers from environmental degradation of huge areas and the plundering and misuse of natural resources. Its unfavourable natural geological and climatic preconditions are not the only cause for the frequent environmental catastrophes. Neither can the Marxist ideology nor the lack of competent administrative and technological personnel be solely blamed. Yet the vision of a new kind of society without private ownership, and thus profit interests, of natural resources had promised a utopia of man and nature in harmony. What went wrong? I focus on the complexities of reasons and highlight the intertwining and interdependence of economic, historical, political, ideo- logical, and aesthetic aspects. It was often quoted with pride in the USSR that socialism was victorious in the world’s largest country, covering one sixth of the earth’s land. Songs and poems praised the huge woods, the pristine lakes and the majestic rivers. The country was extremely rich with stores of fossil fuels, minerals, various common and rare ores. It was a natural paradise for a people whose workers and farmers were in power, where personal property of land and natural resources and thus individual interests had been abandoned. People were free at last; now they could realise the utopia of communism, create the perfect society, solve all the social and scientific problems that all the other class societies had not been able to solve before. A true turning point in history! Also, the end of history was in sight. Like the good old American mentality of the pioneers ‘goin’ West’ – the treasures of the land just waited for smart minds and busy hands, and the horizon and the wealth would never end. Well, the songs were right, but, like all the jokes about radio station Yerevan, just ‘in principle’. There were some serious disadvantages in this natural Environment and History 3 (1997): 69-96 © 1997 The White Horse Press, Cambridge, UK. 70 BERND STEVENS RICHTER paradise. The most water, timber and minerals are in undeveloped areas of the country: ‘Three-quarters of the region’s population and 70% of its industry enjoy ready access to only 16% of total available water resources.’ (Peterson 1993: 55). Compared to the US, the Soviet Union has a much more northern latitude, and this giant land mass has a severe continental climate. About one third – or 7 to 8 million square kilometres – lies in the zone of permafrost, of permanent ice and snow. To develop there, to get access to the resources, is difficult and costly. And nature is much more vulnerable there. But the remaining two thirds is still big enough to take out big chunks for mining and dumps, to dig water reservoirs, to turn woods into barren forests and swamps, to turn fields into eroded and salinated land. The Russian environmentalist Ze’ev Wol’fson found out in 1978 that about one and a half million square kilometres – ‘the most suitable for use, and, in many cases, the most fertile’ land – had been turned into ‘sterile land, industrial wasteland or semiwasteland’ (Komarov 1980: 130f.). Since then environmental degradation of huge areas, the plundering and misusing of natural resources has not stopped. If we look at a map of the former USSR with all the marks of environmental catastrophes we see a sick giant bleeding out of numerous wounds. Latitude and climate are objective reasons for disparities in the water distribution in the Soviet Union. Three fourths of the water resources are in Siberia and the Far East – where just one fourth of the population live and one fourth of the industry are situated. And the big Siberian rivers flow northward, away from dry, but potentially fertile land in Central Asia. Major bodies of water are heavily polluted, including the rivers Volga and the Don in Europe (both rivers inherit a concentration of bacteria and viruses hundreds of times over the hygienic standard) and the Caspian Sea. The most well-known examples of environmental degradation are the Aral Sea and Lake Baikal. The Aral Sea between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan was cut off from its sole surface inflow sources, the rivers Amu-darja and Syr-Darja, whose waters were needed to develop an entirely new, monocultural and disastrous agricultural project of cotton production. From 1960 to 1991 the Sea lost more than one half of its size, 33,000 square kilometres – the size of Massachusets and Connecticut – and 73 % of its volume. The climate changed, around 43 million tons of dust and salt are blown by storms annually; the salts are toxic to plants and make the people sick. Because of the increasing salt concentration in the sea the fishing industry was destroyed. Since then the shrinkage could be stopped, but a realistic chance to recover the Sea is not in sight for a long time. Lake Baikal is not only precious to people in the Soviet Union. There is an international non-profit organisation within the Earth Island Institute (Baikal- Watch) which includes scientists, ecologists and other people who are concerned about nature, which fights for the wellbeing of the earth’s biggest fresh water resource. As early as 1965 people in the Soviet Union expressed their concern that this source might be irreparably damaged. 71 NATURE MASTERED BY MAN a lg Vo R. R. Don Lake Black Baikal Sea Aral Sea Soviet Union border Caspian Sea FIGURE. 1 The Former Soviet Union, Showing Principal Rivers And Lake Baikal deserves this worldwide attention. Located in Eastern Siberia near the border with Mongolia, – 23,000 square kilometres big (about New Hampshire’s size) and 1,620 metres deep, it supports 600 to 800 species of plants and over 1200 to 1550 types of animal life, of which three quarters are found nowhere else in the world. Lake Baikal has existed for 25 to 30 million years (the Great Lakes are ‘only’ several thousand years old). The Pulp-and- Paper and Wood-Processing Industry – more than 100 enterprises – around or near Lake Baikal were destroying the fragile biological balance of the lake. Extensive logging (500 square kilometres a year) fostered erosion and abolished the ‘air filter’ of the lake. Nobody knows how serious the damage already is; the fight for the lake is not only a fight against the industry and the bureaucracy that won’t back up, it is also a fight against lack of knowledge and lack of money. Russia is rich in fresh water resources and is only surpassed by Canada and Brazil. However, Feshbach and Friendly (1993: 113f.) write that in 1989 nearly three quarters of the surface water in the USSR was classified as polluted and that one third was not treated at all. Every year about 23 cubic kilometres of untreated sewage are discharged, most of it dangerous to humans and the environment. One result is that only half of the drinking water – 30 million cubic metres daily – fulfils the health norms. Every year two million people suffer from parasitic illnesses, including diseases of the central nervous system, kidney and liver infections and birth complications. There is the danger of cholera (Don) and 72 BERND STEVENS RICHTER diphtheria epidemics. Three quarters of Russia’s rivers and lakes and 30% of underground water are not suitable as drinking water. Another major source of water pollution and waste in the USSR is agricul- ture. The continental climate in summer and autumn is dry and hot, and winters are severely cold, which practically interrupts the water circulation. Spring and early summer bring flooding from heavy rainfall and meltwater. ‘To overcome these challenges of nature, engineers dammed, diked, drained, and diverted water resources in an effort to work the Soviet Union into a single hydrographic network.’ (Peterson 1993: 55). An expanded irrigation system was developed that helped to produce almost one third of the agricultural products in the late 1980s. But more than half of the channels are unlined and much more are uncovered, so 40-60% of the water is lost. The lost water turned a quarter of a million square kilometres into unplanned swamps – an area the size of Oregon. Sprinkler systems were only used on 40% of the irrigated land; so in Central Asia only 20-30% of the withdrawn water reaches the fields. The Soviet Union established a network of hydroelectric power stations to produce energy for the ambitious industrialisation program, especially after World War II. The longest river in Europe – the Volga – was practically brought to a standstill by 34 stations of the ‘Great Volga’ scheme. Dams in Europe and on the Siberian rivers claimed 62,000 square kilometres of land – which is the size of West Virginia. Dam construction was often hastily done without adequate preparation, which caused millions of cubic metres of wood debris and, as a result, phenol concentration many times the norms. Damming and lack of fish ladders harm the natural cycle of the native fish, and reduce their number.

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